Simon Bolin the Agribusiness Development Manager is looking for a nursery leader in Hillsborough County to serve the industry and the agriculture community. If you have an interest, please read the following form Simon...
The Agricultural Economic Development Council initiates and assists with efforts to create a business atmosphere that is conducive to the continuation and expansion of agricultural businesses within Hillsborough County for the benefit of all its residents. The AEDC has representatives from all the major agricultural sectors including the nursery industry. The AEDC will typically have meetings quarterly. Contact Simon Bollin, Agribusiness Development Manager c: 813-853-1086, e: bollins@HCFL.gov with any questions.
The ornamental horticulture nursery and greenhouse industry contracted again for the fourth year in a row in 2025 in both Hillsborough and Polk Counties in Florida. Hillsborough County growers produced an estimated $172 million in nursery and greenhouse plants. This decreased 1.1% from the year prior, which was then about $174 million in 2024. The average annual wage paid to someone employed in this sector in 2025 was $46,136 or $22.18/hr. This is about a 5% increase over last year's average annual wage of $43,865 or $21.09/hr.
In Polk County, growers produced about 3.7% less than 2024 with nursery and greenhouse sales estimated at about $51.5 million in 2025, as compared to $53.5 million in 2024. The average wage reported in Polk County was $43,387 or $20.85 per hour. Last year's average wage was $41,512 or $19.96/hr. or an increase of 4.5%.
Both counties have seen a decrease in sales since the last increase in nursery production seen in 2021, when Hillsborough nursery sales were $308 million and Polk produced about $65 million.
In case you haven’t yet heard, there is yet another pest spreading around Florida: the pasture mealybug. It first came onto FDACS radar in Florida back in May of 26 and now has spread and is found in many counties in South Florida.
A pink-bodied winged adult male in a heavy infestation of unmated females and nymphs. Photo: Erin C. Powell, FDACS-DPI
This mealybug
is a pest of grasses and is ravaging the sugar cane industry as well as
spreading to cattle pastures.It can be a pest of many grasses including corn, rice, bahiagrass, lipograss, bermudagrass and many
others.
Damage from this pest is a severe dieback, stunting, and senescence of leaves and then death of the grass.
Please check
any grass plants that are moved from south Florida for this pest.If you suspect that your pasture, turf or ornamentals
are showing signs of a pasture mealybug infestation, submit
a sample to DPI’s Entomology section for identification or contact the
DPI Helpline at 1-888-397-1517 or DPIHelpline@FDACS.gov.
Container potting soil might not be your most expensive
input, but according to national industry statistics, if you produce ornamental
plants in containers, it is probably the second biggest expense after
labor. What if you could save 13% to 25% on potting media costs for each container produced? What if you could save irrigation and
fertilizer as well, with a simple change? Those are some of the results
that we found with a simple addition of an input and changing the container
media.
Over the last few years, we have been working on adding
horticultural-grade compost to regular container media to "stretch"
the mix and reduce peat usage. We have used combinations of potting media that
we blended, composed of compost and pine bark as well as replaced potting media
with percentages of compost and compared it to the growth of the normal
container media mix for Central Florida. In both cases, compost matched up.
When we blended a mix of 70:30 and 60:40 pine
bark:compost and compared it to the standard grower mix (¾” composted pine bark (50%), Florida
peat (40%), and hardwood (10%), and grew crapemyrtles, we found that the one
gallons all grew the same; no statistical differences in height and width (Fig 1).
Fig 1. Crapemyrtles grown in one-gallon containers with grower standard soil, 70:30 and 60:40 pine bark:compost mixes from left to right.
We then stepped
up those one-gallon container plants and replanted them into three-gallon
containers and continued to grow them in the same soils as they started.When those plants were ready to harvest,
height and width were measured, there were no differences in height, but
compost soils were slightly wider than the standard with 30% compost being the
widest plants.
In our
demonstrations of replacing a portion of potting soil with 20% or 40% compost
we found similar results with ixora, crapemyrtles, New Guinea impatiens, and a
variety of vinca (another variety did worse than control).All plants grew similarly.Amazingly, when compost was substituted, plants
needed 20-25% less water and 61% less fertilizer. The media costs were reduced
by about 25% or about $0.23 per #3 container. The key takeaway was that
irrigation had to adjust lower to accommodate a more water holding media.
The utilization
of compost is a great way to reduce production costs; irrigation run times and
increase economic and natural resource sustainability.Growers will need to trial varieties and change
how they water to gain savings.Some
plants may not do well in compost.Also,
growers will need to use high-grade, mature compost from a reputable source (ours was donated by Veransa, Seffner) to
avoid pH or nutrient concerns.It also
seems that 20-30% compost is a safe proportion to use, but again testing for
your plants and nursery will influence that amount.
For full
information on this topic the article will appear soon in the proceedings of the
Florida State Horticultural Society.
Viburnums are a cornerstone crop for many Florida nurseries, but over the past two decades growers have faced increasingly severe foliar disease problems—especially during propagation. What was once a nearly trouble‑free crop has, in some cases, dropped from near‑100% propagation success to total loss. Extension and research by UF/IFAS and funding help from the Florida Nursery Grower and Landscape Association help explain why—and what growers can do to protect their plants.
It’s Not Just Downy Mildew Anymore
For years, downy mildew (DM) (Plasmopara viburni) was considered the primary culprit behind leaf spots, blighting, and defoliation in viburnum. But UF/IFAS researchers found that today’s disease pressure is far more complex. Across multiple nursery trials, they consistently isolated a mixture of true fungal pathogens—including Cercospora, Colletotrichum, Corynespora, Phyllosticta, Phoma, and Pestalotiopsis species. These pathogens produce symptoms nearly identical to downy mildew, making field diagnosis extremely difficult. In fact, in several seasons researchers found no downy mildew at all, even when symptoms looked like classic DM.
Viburnum cutting propagation with heavy disease pressure (photo credit: UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County)
Why Many Fungicides Fail
Because many growers were targeting downy mildew, they relied heavily on oomycete‑specific fungicides. The trials showed that these products—those containing active ingredients ametoctradin, cyazofamid, dimethomorph, fluopicolide, mandipropamid, mefenoxam, or oxathiapiprolin—did not reduce disease severity when true fungi were the real problem.
In contrast, systemic fungicides effective against true fungi performed significantly better. Products containing active ingredients benzovindiflupyr, difenoconazole, fluxapyroxad, and pyraclostrobin consistently reduced leaf spot severity in both container and propagation trials.
Propagation Trials: Dip Treatments Shine
During propagation, both fungicide drench and dip applications helped reduce disease, but dip treatments had two major advantages:
They reduced disease severity without the negative impact on root development seen in some drench treatments.
They possibly avoided diluting the rooting hormone, which can contribute to weaker, less vigorous liners.
Postiva® (benzovindiflupyr + difenoconazole) and Orkestra® (pyraclostrobin + fluxapyroxad) were the most consistently effective products across trials.
Best Practices for Growers
The research highlights three key takeaways:
Identify the pathogen—or at least recognize that multiple pathogens may be involved. Misidentification leads to ineffective control.
Use the right fungicide for the right pathogen group. When true fungi dominate, oomycete‑targeting products won’t help.
Reevaluate production practices. Overhead irrigation, high humidity, and dense canopies create ideal conditions for foliar pathogens. Reducing leaf wetness—especially in propagation—can dramatically improve outcomes. Creating less stress (possibly with some shade) can also help plants fight diseases.
While fungicides remain an important tool, cultural practices and clean stock are equally critical. With better pathogen awareness and targeted management, growers can regain control over viburnum production and reduce costly losses.
UF/IFAS recommends following all pesticide labels. The label is the law. The selection and use of these products over any other products do not indicate an endorsement. During the preparation of this work, the author used Copilot to summarize research findings. After using this tool, the author reviewed and edited the content as needed and takes full responsibility for the content of the publication.
If you are looking to take a Private, Core, Ag Row, Pesticide test to obtain a Commercial, Public or Private Applicator Pesticide License, or need CEUs for those licenses. If you or your agricultural employer needs to obtain a Worker Protection Standard Training Certificate, we have some classes that you might be interested in taking a look at.
Here is the summary of the upcoming license preparation classes we are offering in the Tampa Bay area. For more information, click on the individual class links to get the specifics of each program.
Industry benchmarking can be a very important source of
information for any competitive firm. It gives organizations a clear,
data-driven understanding of where they rank compared to their peers and
competitors. The data gained from these insights can help firms strategically
plan, prioritize investments, and validate assumptions regarding business
decisions.What matters most about
industry benchmarking is that firms must input their information to have a
framework to gauge their ranking.
The Floridian Nursery Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA),
in partnership with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural
Science (UF/IFAS) Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, is conducting the
2025 Florida Green Industry Wage and Benefit Survey.
This survey collects updated information on wages, benefits,
and workforce practices across nursery, greenhouse, and landscape services
firms statewide.Your participation is
essential for developing reliable industry benchmarks that help guide business
planning, workforce retention, and competitiveness. All responses are strictly
confidential and will be reported only in an aggregated form. Completing this
survey should take approximately 20 to 25 minutes, and it can be saved and
completed in multiple settings.
It is important to report any freeze damages you have to our local USDA Farm Service Agency offices. This will help determine disaster levels and possible policy changes to assist ag producers. Our Hillsborough County office is:
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY FARM SERVICE AGENCY
201 S COLLINS ST STE 201
PLANT CITY, FL 33563
(813) 752-1474 ext 2
Polk County office is:
POLK COUNTY FARM SERVICE AGENCY
1700 HWY 17 S
BARTOW, FL 33830
863) 533-2051 ext 2
UF is also assisting with damage reporting to measure the impact to help inform decision makers. This is what was sent by Dr. Christa Court Ag Economist with UF/IFAS...
My program supports the State Emergency Board for Florida by attending their meetings to share the information that my program has on the weather event, the affected agricultural acreage, and results that are coming in through the UF/IFAS Agricultural Damage and Loss Assessment.So, they will have this information available to inform the overall process, but it cannot be used to determine county/state eligibility for the Secretarial disaster designation. My information is typically used to determine if there are additional counties or crops that did not have individual reports coming into a county/region USDA-FSA office that might make the county eligible for a Secretarial disaster designation, which means an area or commodity should be investigated further before a final decision is made. This (and other uses in meetings with and decisions being made by the Office of the Governor, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the USDA, and others) is why I always describe the UF/IFAS assessment as complementary to reporting losses and damages to USDA-FSA, even though the two efforts are asking for much of the same information. I have been trying for 8+ years to overcome duplicate efforts and barriers to data sharing across organizations and we have made great strides, but aren't yet to the ultimate goal of having agricultural operations only have to report this information once.
It has been a rough couple of weeks weatherwise and I hope you made it through without too much loss. Just make sure to be proactive and report your losses or call Shawn at the Extension Office and I can work with you to report your losses.
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